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After a 3-months break from this show, I'm back ! This new episode is just a season 1 recap with some new scenes, but I was content with it (the new theme songs are just as good as the season 1). Too bad Takuma still suffers from mysterious curse, but I'm looking forward to see the other bishies' character development. I was a little surprised that Tamaki remembered everything, but I want to support her for not being too whiny like in the first season. Let's see how the second episode develops.

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I will protect you from the darkness and I change my destiny.MyAnimeList

Life goes on for Tamaki and her guys.
Some flashbacks from the previous season..
Well, it was practically all about the flashbacks.
This episode was just a recap.
Wonder what's gonna be happening this season..
Probably something involving Aria Monado & her fighters.

Wow. All the guardians are clearly in love with Tamaki, but all of them except Mr. Demon Man (Takuma) are sooooooo friendzoned. lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKK

Typical for a harem. Reverse or otherwise.

Not so typical for a harem. Thereby giving me hopes that we might actually end up with an official pairing by series' end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by orion

If anything, they keep hinting at the prob official pair in the OP and the Tamayuri Princess myth.

*nod* IIRC, HnK is actually based on a reverse-harem VN, so the anime is likely based on the main (Takuma) route. He's pretty much been set up as the designated love interest ever since he rescued Tamaki right at the beginning, and as orion pointed out, the second-season OP just makes it more clear. (So not my personal favorite; standoffish, brooding, and angsty is just not my choice for male lead.)

With S2, I'm hoping that they go a little deeper into the plot end of things, not just have people moving around being ominous but actually coming out and explaining what people are doing and what their goals are. The major weakness of S1 (apart from a low animation budget shortcutting the fight scenes way too much, and the general flatness of the characters) was that we never really got to see what the heck was going on with the various sides.

What keeps me coming back to the show (aside from the really pretty art, O-chan's cuteness, and the decent music) is the genuinely interesting urban-fantasy plot set-up. There's at least five sides here:

1. Tamaki and the Guardians: Stay alive. Keep Onikirimaru and other dangerous stuff out of the hands of bad guys. Don't let Takuma turn into a monster.
2. Oni-baba and Mitsuru: Baba-sama's refusal to tell Tamaki a damn thing or help in any productive way suggests to me that she's not one of the good guys, or at least that she has her own agenda and is holding a lot back on purpose.
3. Aria, Eins, Zwei, and Vier: Wants the Onikirimaru for some unknown reason associated with Aria being the incarnation of Monado, which is further undefined. Might be nice if they told us what they wanted.
4. Drei and the Logos HQ: Has their own agenda separate from Aria's, which is even more confusing.
5. The Ministry of Health and Mysterious Sixth Guy: Agenda is likely political, and Sixth Guy clearly has some connection to the Guardians (one suspects he even has a route in-game).

Whether I enjoy S2 is largely going to depend on if they end up doing anything with all this set-up. Done well, this show could end up a poor man's Fate/stay night. Done poorly, it could inspire yawns all the way to the finish. Based on some of the responses I received to my comments here about last season's finale, I at least have hope.

As Kiyono tells Tamaki about spiriting aways, we move into Mitsuru's flashback that was explained right after he's alone in a misty forest. Suddenly, Suguru tells him and his friends that he's going to betray them for hidden purposes so that he can join Monado, which leads Tamaki and her friends in pain. Something mysterious happened in Ashiya and the sacred sword too. What a great episode !

__________________

I will protect you from the darkness and I change my destiny.MyAnimeList

Ohmi busted Shinji.
Never thought that kid could be the traitor.
Ohmi switching sides... that was a surprise.
The only question is, is he faking it or is it for real?
Things are certainly getting interesting.

Oh, heck yeah! First non-clip-show episode of S2 and we're finally getting somewhere! So, Kifu village is as dark and corrupt as Oni-baba's nastiness implied all along, what with

Spoiler for Ep. 2 spoilers.:

carrying out human sacrifices to keep Onikirimaru sealed and abandoning kids to the wolves who don't measure up, power-wise.

And then all kinds of secrets and treachery come out!

Spoiler for Assorted traitors and betrayals:

Shinji was a traitor working for Logos and Aria all along. Aria's faction rejects him even though he apparently sincerely wants to stay with Logos. Ohmi catches him, then switches sides, joining up with Drei's faction, who are wisely suspicious of him (thank you, writers, for NOT having them be credulous) but believe in "keep your friends close and your enemies even closer." Shinji gives Ohmi away to the others, but doesn't apparently reveal his own deception. Tamaki decides that she's going to have faith that whatever Ohmi intends, he's doing it for the right reasons. This seems to, in turn, cause Shinji more worry and heartbreak. Sixth Guy, on the other hand, is fully aware that Shinji is a traitor.

And as yet there's no explanation for the "spiritings away"--is it one of the Logos factions? The Ministry of Health? Kifu village? Actual spirits such as the "drowned gods" acting up and claiming victims?

Basically, somebody grabbed up the plot stick and beat the crap out of the anime in this episode! Seriously, while Tamaki's "The only thing I can do is trust him" bit and Ohmi's refusal to simply give his reasons straight to his friends are a little bit out of the cliche bin, for the most part this is the kind of episode to give me hope that this second season will go somewhere and do something worthwhile with all the plot threads being scattered about in the first season.

This ep made up for the boring first ep recap. Shinji was always suspcious and turns out he was the traitor. Though not of his own choice. So he wants to let Logos win to change the village. Wonder if Ohmi joined Logos to get the artifacts back, or he's trying to do the same like Shinji. All in all Baba and Kifu have been bad from the beginning. Also Takuma seems to be losing to the oni.